Forms Of Human Activity Research Articles

Sediment variability in a small catchment of the Polish Western Carpathians during transition from centrally planned to free-market economics

The purpose of this study was to analyse suspended sediment (SS) transport in a small catchment (13 km2) located in the Polish Carpathians affected by various forms of human activity in the period 1970–2017. This period covers two stages of socioeconomic development with contrasting forms of human activity: the centrally planned economy related to the communist system up to 1989 and the period of a free-market economy following. Analysis indicates increases in grassland and forest areas of the analysed catchment of 90% and 10% respectively and a decrease in cultivated land of 82%. Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) have reduced soil erosion by 74% as calculated using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation. At the same time, population, number of buildings, and construction works along the stream increased, and number of cart roads decreased. Hydrometeorological data as well as suspended sediment load (SSL) have not shown a statistically significant trend despite changes in forms of human activity in 1970–2017. In the first three decades of the analysed period (1970–1979, 1980–1989, and 1990–1999), SSL gradually decreased. In 2010–2017, suspended sediment load was the highest in the whole investigated period. Principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed that it was a result of the appearance of new sediment sources associated with intensification of landslides and new forms of human activity, such as construction works. The imposition on these factors resulted in an increase in SSL and masked the effects of rainfall LULC change in the catchment. Analysis shows that proper recognition of changes in sediment sources in the catchment is fundamental for correct interpretation of long-term sediment transport in the streams.

TUTORÍA DE CARRERA EN LA FORMACIÓN INICIAL DE PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS EN LA UNIVERSIDAD DE LAS TUNAS

This paper summarizes the rationale for specialized tutoring and mentoring for pre-service language teacher education at the University of Las Tunas, Cuba. It is assumed that either academic tutoring and mentoring are forms of human activity that are designed according to the socio-historical characteristics of the context where they are implemented and that tutors and mentors become mediators between the content and students’ learning processes (Palacios 2006). It is acknowledged that there is a close connection among the contexts for tutoring and mentoring, the goals of pre-service teacher education, the integrating discipline, the stages of the tutoring and mentoring model throughout the pre-service program, and the students and tutors-mentors’ characteristics. So, this connection serves as the basis for the determination of specialized tutoring and mentoring model for pre-service foreign language teacher education that includes a content component, a process one and a personal component to generate an integrated and contextualized activity to favor students’ integral education as language teachers.

The urban heat island and the features of the flora in the Lublin City area, SE Poland

Various forms of human activity in large cities contribute to the creation of a specific climate and new environmental conditions for plants. One of the most important results is the so-called atmospheric urban heat island (UHI). The aim of this study was to compare the thermal conditions in the Lublin City center with those of suburban areas, and so confirm the existence of the UHI and then analyze the influence of thermal conditions on features of the flora. The analysis of the air temperatures was based on data from 2000 to 2014 provided by meteorological stations in the Lublin City center and its nearest surroundings. Floristic data were collected during field studies between 2012–2014 and included species richness and frequency, life forms, and synecological groups of the flora and its elements. The thermal requirements of species were defined on the basis of ecological indicator values (EIVs). Our research confirmed the presence of the UHI in the Lublin City center. Over the study period, the mean temperature in the city center was by 0.87°C higher than that in the suburban areas. The largest differences in mean annual air temperature between the city center and the suburbs were recorded in 2007 and 2011–2013. In total, 552 species were recorded, including six life-form and synecological groups, 246 thermophilous and 436 heliophilous species. The species richness, proportion of therophytes, alien, thermo- and heliophilous species decreased with distance from the city center. The thermal conditions expressed by the EIV L and T ranged from L = 4.5, T = 3.8 in the city center, to L = 3.1, T = 3.4 in the suburbs. An ordination analysis facilitated determination of the relationships between characteristics of the flora, the EIV values, and land use classes. An increasing level of anthropopressure was found to be positively correlated with thermal conditions and the flora traits.

The Event of Forest Fire in Indonesia in the Perfective Environmental Ethics Anthropocentrism

<p><em>This study aims to analyze forest fires in Indonesia in terms of anthropocentric environmental ethics perspectives. The method used is the method of observation, and the primary data can be by interviewing the people who live in the location of forest fires in Riau province, and the perpetrators of illegal logging, and companies that use the forest. While the secondary data obtained from statistical data, and from the Riau provincial government, and then the data is analyzed descriptively. In the perspective of the environmental ethics of anthropocentrism, the forest is an invaluable resource (biodiversity as a source of germplasm, timber and non-timber forest products, the water regulator, flood prevention and erosion and soil fertility) whose utilization and protection should be regulated accordingly with relevant and applicable laws and government regulations. Events of forest fires are one form of human action that is contrary to the principles of environmental ethics, resulting in large casualties and losses. In fact, in anthropocentrism more emphasis on the human interest that has led to human behaviour that tends to damage nature.</em><em></em></p>

Wychowanie czy ulepszenie? O antychrześcijańskich korzeniach i pedagogicznych implikacjach transhumanizmu

The main objective of the article is to present the anti-Christian roots of the transhumanist thought and a critical analysis of its pedagogical implications. My main hypothesis is that in the spirit of exclusive humanism the techno-progressive movement pushes forward an anti-Christian image of man, which conceptualizes human existence beyond the foregoing anthropological-pedagogical categories. I will argue that only by reinforcing anthropological reflection upon the meaning of education we might be able to conduct preventive strategies against the contemporary tendencies of the reification and depersonalization of the human. To that end I will try to show that the transhumanist analogy between “enhancement” through education and “technological enhancement” ignores the qualitative difference between two forms of human activity – action and production. In order to stress the anti-Christian character of the concept of technological human enhancement I will try to refer this issue to Joseph Ratzinger’s thought on the transition from ancient and scholastic anthropology to the modern image of man as a productive human being, whose existence underlies the logics of constant transformation.

EXAMINATION OF THE WEED FLORA OF RUDER HABITATS AND THE POSSIBILITY OF SUPPRESSION WITH HERBICIDES

Ruderal flora, as well as the vegetation that flora forms, represent an extremely dynamic floristic-vegetation complex and arean integral part of the most immediate living and working environment of human. It is formed and developed mainly in human settlements, as well as in the other anthropogenic environments that are occasionally or permanently under direct or indirect influence of various forms of human activity. Ruderal vegetation is found not only directly around the settlements, but also around all urban and accompanying facilities: along roads, paths and fences around houses, yards, walls and roofs, in avenues, on ruins, construction sites, landfills, along railway tracks, road and defense embankments, on wet and nitrified banks of rivers, near human settlements, in abandoned lawns, on the street walks with sandy areas, cemeteries, in degraded pastures, forests, etc. This essay presents the distribution and representation of economically harmful, invasive and quarantine weed species (Abutilon theophrasti, Agropyrumrepens, Amaranthusretroflexus, Calystegiasepium, Cirsiumarvense, Chenopodium album, Chenopodiumhybridum, Convolvulus arvensis, Cynodondactylon, Daturastramonium, Sonchusarvensis, Sorghum halepense, Xanthium strumarium…) at ten sites in the Nisava district. The assessment of species representation was done in two shootings (May and August) according to scale 1-4. The proper selection of herbicides depends, in a large extent, on the presence of dominant weed species and on the time of application.

EXAMINATION OF THE WEED FLORA OF RUDER HABITATS AND THE POSSIBILITY OF SUPPRESSION WITH HERBICIDES

Ruderal flora, as well as the vegetation that flora forms, represent an extremely dynamic floristic-vegetation complex and arean integral part of the most immediate living and working environment of human. It is formed and developed mainly in human settlements, as well as in the other anthropogenic environments that are occasionally or permanently under direct or indirect influence of various forms of human activity. Ruderal vegetation is found not only directly around the settlements, but also around all urban and accompanying facilities: along roads, paths and fences around houses, yards, walls and roofs, in avenues, on ruins, construction sites, landfills, along railway tracks, road and defense embankments, on wet and nitrified banks of rivers, near human settlements, in abandoned lawns, on the street walks with sandy areas, cemeteries, in degraded pastures, forests, etc. This essay presents the distribution and representation of economically harmful, invasive and quarantine weed species (Abutilon theophrasti, Agropyrumrepens, Amaranthusretroflexus, Calystegiasepium, Cirsiumarvense, Chenopodium album, Chenopodiumhybridum, Convolvulus arvensis, Cynodondactylon, Daturastramonium, Sonchusarvensis, Sorghum halepense, Xanthium strumarium…) at ten sites in the Nisava district. The assessment of species representation was done in two shootings (May and August) according to scale 1-4. The proper selection of herbicides depends, in a large extent, on the presence of dominant weed species and on the time of application.

Space Sharing Between Formal and Informal Sectors In Kemang Area

Sharing is a form of human activity as a social being, over resources or spaces. Humans generally define their space according to their psychological and biological needs. However, what if space sharing takes place in an urban scope? The phenomenon of space sharing happens in Kemang area done by two distinct sectors, formal and informal which both are engaged in commercial activities independently. In the study of territory and the behavior settings, the quality of environment can affect the formation of human activities in a space, occurs a phenomenon of space sharing. The researcher will discuss and present a form of the space sharing by the formal and informal sectors in a commercial area through different environmental qualities. In some circumstance, a form of space sharing can increase the value of space and obtain to a shared space, where both sectors mutually take benefits. Otherwise, it leads to an adverse impact in some others. It is clear that differences in the physical environment and social environment have an impact on the formation of space sharing and the value of space in an urban region.

Editorial: Understanding Collective Learning and Human Agency in Diverse Social, Cultural and Material Settings

The significance of environment and sustainability education research and practice, and its potential contribution to a sustainable future for humanity, is conveyed by the International Social Science Council (n.d.), which explains: People everywhere will need to learn how to create new forms of human activity and new social systems that are more sustainable and socially just. However, we have limited knowledge about the type of learning that creates such change, how such learning emerges, or how it can be scaled-up to create transformations at many levels. Here, the important shift is towards considering what social systems, forms of knowledge, learning processes and questions of justice are associated with perpetuating or halting the decline of Earth’s bio-geo-chemical systems. This edition of the Southern African Journal of Environmental Education contributes three research papers and a themed Think Piece collection to these international deliberations about the role of education in enabling transformations to sustainability. Collectively, the articles highlight how relationality and the formation of human agency in socio-cultural and material settings in past–present–future configurations underpin all environment-oriented learning processes. The three research papers constituting the first part of this volume offer glimpses into how current unsustainable socio-cultural and material configurations might be transformed to address social inequalities and damaged people–nature relations. The Think Piece collection, introduced by Lotz-Sisitka, Laessoe and Jorgensen later in this editorial, focuses on how learning can foster and contribute to the development of change agents and collective agency for climate-resilient development.

Classic University as Institutional Form of Human Action

Classic University as Institutional Form of Human Action

THE ROLE OF THE TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN STIMULATING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The importance of transport for economic development results from its multilateral links with different forms of human activity. So far, the focus has been on the impact of investments in the transport infrastructure on economic growth, whereas the importance of other elements of the transport system has been overlooked. In this article the concept and components of the transport system have been analysed, indicating the important role of the soft transport infrastructure and innovation. The main objective of the article is to analyse the role played by transport in the modern economy and indicate the mechanisms affecting the socio-economic development.

Transgressing the norm: Transformative agency in community-based learning for sustainability in southern African contexts

Environment and sustainability education processes are often oriented to change and transformation, and frequently involve the emergence of new forms of human activity. However, not much is known about how such change emerges from the learning process, or how it contributes to the development of transformative agency in community contexts. The authors of this article present four cross-case perspectives of expansive learning and transformative agency development in community-based education in southern Africa, studying communities pursuing new activities that are more socially just and sustainable. The four cases of community learning and transformative agency focus on the following activities: (1) sustainable agriculture in Lesotho; (2) seed saving and rainwater harvesting in Zimbabwe; (3) community-based irrigation scheme management in Mozambique; and (4) biodiversity conservation co-management in South Africa. The case studies all draw on cultural-historical activity theory to guide learning and change processes, especially third-generation cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), which emphasises expansive learning in collectives across interacting activity systems. CHAT researchers, such as the authors of this article, argue that expansive learning can lead to the emergence of transformative agency. The authors extend their transformative agency analysis to probe if and how expansive learning might also facilitate instances of transgressing norms – viewed here as embedded practices which need to be reframed and changed in order for sustainability to emerge.

Historical Archives and Born Digital Records

The paper deals with the specificities of handling historical documents when it comes to the application of IC technologies and the creation of new, digital records, in the process of their arrangement, processing, protection and presentation. Besides general attitudes related to this issue, as perceived from the viewpoint of contemporary archival theory and practice, descriptions have been given of the cases from the practice of Montenegro State Archives.The goal of this paper is to draw attention to expert public to the difficulties archival profession in underdeveloped countries is faced with in its efforts to preserve archival cultural heritage, both the one stored in archives, and the one being created with the ever so widely used information technologies through all forms of human activity, including the overall archival practice.

Intentionality and Action in Sport: A Discussion of the Views of Searle and Dreyfus

The article looks at sport as a form of human action where the participants display various forms of Intentionality. Intentionality may be defined as ‘that property of many mental states and events by which they are directed at or about or of objects and states of affairs in the world.’ Sporting actions are about human intentions, beliefs, desires, perceptions and not to forget, movements. This means that sports typically display what we call ‘Intentionality.’ The study of Intentionality and intentional actions has previously received relatively little attention among sport philosophers, but deserves more attention. Even though there is a tension and several differences between continental and analytical approaches to philosophical problems, there is a common understanding of the phenomenon we call ‘Intentionality.’ The debate between John Searle, representing the analytical camp, and Hubert Dreyfus, representing the phenomenological camp, is instructive to see the differences, and also the commonalities between the two approaches. The article starts with a clarification of the concept of Intentionality and sketches some of the history and background of the concept. It then presents the main conceptual framework that Searle uses to distinguish the different types and forms of Intentionality and his views on sporting actions. This is followed by a presentation of the phenomenological approach of Dreyfus and the response by Searle. The article ends by discussing the possibility of a combined and enriched view where a clarification of the logic as well as the phenomenology of sporting actions is needed. It may thus be possible to bridge the gap between the two approaches.

Амбівалентні характеристики геніальності в філософському осмисленні

Категорія «геніальності» розглянута в статті як ключова для розуміння динаміки соціально-історичних процесів і перспектив розвитку особистості, осмислення специфіки інноваційної діяльності людини, що не вписується в традиційні норми і стандарти поведінки. Охарактеризовані амбівалентні характеристики творчої особистості. Амбівалентні прояви творчої особистості досліджені в статті як ключові не тільки для розуміння динаміки соціально-історичних процесів і перспектив розвитку особистості, а й для осмислення специфіки інноваційної діяльності людини, що не вписується в традиційні норми і стандарти поведінки. Встановлено, що амбівалентні прояви творчості полягають в наявності в ньому елемента деструкції, необхідного для руйнування застарілих консервативних явищ і затвердження нового, прогресивного, які суттєво розширюють існуючі межі реальності. З’ясовано, що цей процес діалектичний за своєю суттю, тому його наслідки можуть призвести до негативних соціальних проявів.

Towards a psychology of free action

Although freedom has been of grave concern to people for centuries, it has surprisingly not been a central topic in psychology. The goal of this article is to begin constructing a theoretical framework for addressing freedom issues in terms of free action, which is generally defined as doing as one sees fit without coercion or constraint. Insofar as free action is a form of human action, it is first necessary to conceptualize action. The paper begins by conceptualizing action from a systems perspective in terms of interrelated individual, social, and cultural processes. Next, free action is conceptualized as a form of action that involves particular ways of structuring individual, social, and cultural processes. The article ends with some implications of this conceptualization of free action for continued theory building and research on the psychology of free action.

Identification of the forces developed by upper limbs in various forms of human physical activity and in manual techniques used by physiotherapists – a brief review

Abstract The aim of this study was to review the literature dealing with the force-time characteristics of different forms of physical activity performed with upper limbs by the elderly and the disabled (Nordic Walking and using a wheelchair, respectively) and of manual techniques used by physiotherapists. Values of work and power were analysed as well. Based on the analysis of the literature concerning the substantive areas included in this article, we believe that objective measurements will expand the present knowledge about values of force developed by upper limbs during different forms of human activity. It seems to be of particular significance in the application of manual therapy techniques, because currently values of force exerted upon the patient while applying these techniques are selected by a physiotherapist intuitively and are neither objective nor systematically controlled. The identification of the values of force developed with upper limbs by the elderly, the disabled and physiotherapists during the aforementioned forms of activity will make an original contribution to the broadly defined physical culture, especially rehabilitation and health promotion.

The researcher in the field – some notes on qualitative research in mental health

In this published response to five studies in the present special issue, all representing qualitative research in the field of mental health, this research is approached as cultural and social practice. The five studies are looked upon as informative examples of research activity in mental health, and it is asked how that particular field is conceptualised as a form of human activity, how the authors position themselves in relation to the field, why they ask the questions they seek to answer and how epistemic queries concerning knowing and not-knowing manifest themselves and are addressed in the studies. The paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the uses of qualitative methodology in mental health research by explicating some of the differences and some of the similarities between the pieces of research at hand.

TEORI BRUNER: SEBAGAI ALTERNATIF DALAM MEMBELAJARKAN SISWASEKOLAH DASAR PADA MATA PELAJARAN MATEMATIKA

Mathematics is a form of human activity. This means that learning mathematics in school is not a kind of course activity (teacher center), but able to studied the students. Mathematics learning designed by teachers should be able to make students find their own concepts being studied. By understanding the characteristics of elementary school students, teachers must be skilled in choosing which learning theory can be applied in mathematics learning, especially mathematics learning in primary schools. One theory of learning that can be used as an alternative elementary school teacher is the theory of bruner. Through the learning stages of the discovery are enactive, iconic, and symbolic, students can be fully involved both physically and mentally.Key Words: the theory of bruner, mathematics, primary school

El impacto medioambiental de la fertilización orgánica sobre los cultivos. Importancia en la formación de profesionales de la Agronomía

This paper summarizes the rationale for specialized tutoring and mentoring for pre-service language teacher education at the University of Las Tunas, Cuba. It is assumed that either academic tutoring and mentoring are forms of human activity that are designed according to the socio-historical characteristics of the context where they are implemented and that tutors and mentors become mediators between the content and students’ learning processes (Palacios 2006). It is acknowledged that there is a close connection among the contexts for tutoring and mentoring, the goals of pre-service teacher education, the integrating discipline, the stages of the tutoring and mentoring model throughout the pre-service program, and the students and tutors-mentors’ characteristics. So, this connection serves as the basis for the determination of specialized tutoring and mentoring model for pre-service foreign language teacher education that includes a content component, a process one and a personal component to generate an integrated and contextualized activity to favor students’ integral education as language teachers.